In which a young gentleman named Dick Shelton rises early to retrieve important papers and stumbles upon a lone warrior fiercely battling a group of assailants near the Cross of St. Bride, only to be drawn into a sudden and resolute skirmish under the command of a singularly deformed but determined young duke. The dawn finds these unlikely comrades preparing with bold purpose for a swift and daring assault on the town of Shoreby, their hopes and fates intertwined beneath the cold morning sun.